Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and Zionism. Reflecting on Ta-Nehisi Coates's "The Message"

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In the Black radical tradition, critiques of Nationalism as inherently violent have clashed with recognition of the importance of national liberation movements and the desire for self-determination of oppressed people. Ta-Nehisi Coats grapples with this in his book The Message, grappling with being raised in a Pan-Africanist household and have an emotional return to Africa with the reality that nationalist abstractions have been a tool for violent conquest of land by the Zionist political regime in Israel. 

In this episode Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, Director of Public Policy Dayvon Love and Director of Research Lawrence Grandpre look at the theme's of nationalism and Zionism in The Message, arguing that in addition to Pan African emotional attachments to Africa, there are material cultural and political systems that studying adds to the concrete liberation work for Black people. Using examples from material and public health in ancient African civilizations, they show that study of the African past reveals practices that address the problems of Black communities in the here and now. Pan Africanism gives lessons we can use to Far from Black Nationalism replicating the flaws of Zionism, they look at the theory and practice of Pan-Africanism to reveal its consistent anti-Zionist work, rejecting academic and liberal caricatures of Pan-Africanism and Black Nationalism as an immature and inherently violent ideology. 

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